On the second day of the summit between the EU heads of state and government in Brussels, the leaders reached an agreement on ‘fast start funding’. The EU’s figure came to EUR 2.4 billion per year from 2010 to 2012.

“I am particularly pleased that all 27 Member States and the Commission have contributed”, said Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt after the meeting.

‘Fast start funding’ refers to the funding that is needed to quickly get climate change adaptation measures under way in developing countries. The money is for mitigation of climate change, adaptation to climate change and capacity building. The EU wants to work for an annual global contribution of EUR 7 billion per year between 2010 and 2012. Of this, the EU leaders have agreed to contribute EUR 2.4 billion annually.

“The EU has now taken on a significant share of the total amount and has shown leadership on the issue. Now we want to encourage the rest of the world to contribute to reach EUR 7 billion. It would be good if we could get an agreement on this in Copenhagen”, said Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

“The decision is particularly important for the poorest countries, those that are most vulnerable”, said President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso.

Stockholm Programme

On the second day of the summit, the heads of state and government also adopted the Stockholm Programme, the new program in the area of justice and home affairs for the years 2010 to 2014. The program lays down the framework for EU cooperation on policing, customs and rescue services, criminal and civil law cooperation, asylum, migration and visa policy.

The Commission will now present a plan for the implementation of the Stockholm Programme. The plan will be adopted by June 2010 at the latest.
“The Stockholm Programme is very important because it directly affects people’s lives”, said Commission President José Manuel Barroso after the meeting.

Source: se2009.eu

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